Reader Jonathan Wallace from Britain has sent some old photos, which were scanned from slides, but still worth a look (especially those nefarious rollers!):

I recently scanned some old 35 mm slides of mine taken in Senegal and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa in the pre-digital past.  I am not sure that the quality of the scans is as good as it might be but the photos may nevertheless be of interest. Because of file sizes I shall send them in several batches.

The first picture here is of Yellow-billed Oxpeckers, Buphagus africanus, on a calf/heifer.  Oxpeckers  are specialized to feed on large ungulates; hosts include various wild species including buffalo, various antelopes, zebra, giraffes, rhinos and hippos as well as domestic livestock.  They feed on ectoparasites such as ticks and flies but also bodily secretions including ear-wax and blood, and they peck insistently at wounds. Birds have been recorded taking flesh back to nestlings.  Hosts seem to tolerate them, so presumably the benefits (parasite removal and perhaps predator warnings) outweigh the discomfort and harm they may do.

AND. . . SPOT THE NIGHTJAR!

The second photo shows a nightjar!  In this case it should not be too much trouble finding whereabouts in the photo it is.  The species is Long-tailed Nightjar, Caprimulgus climacurus.  They were quite common in Senegal (hopefully still are!) and could be found by day roosting in leaf litter beneath trees.  At night they could sometimes be seen hunting around street lamps for the insects attracted to the light.

These two pictures show three of the common species of vulture in West Africa.  The first picture shows Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture Gyps rueppellii.

The second shows two species the African White-backed Vulture, Gyps africanus, which is perhaps the most numerous and widespread vulture in Africa, and the much smaller Hooded Vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus.  Vultures in Africa have declined seriously in recent years for  variety of reasons: accidental poisoning by ranchers seeking to kill cattle predators, deliberate poisoning by poachers trying to prevent vultures alerting the authorities to the presence of elephant or rhino kills, and killing for ‘bushmeat’—amongst other problems.

This picture shows Abyssinian Rollers, Coracias abyssinica, and Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis, feeding at a roadside fire in Guinea-Bissau.  Small bush-fires attract lots of bird species seeking to catch the displaced insects, rodents, reptiles etc fleeing the flames. As well as rollers and egrets, corvids, kestrels and other small birds of prey are all attracted and it can create quite a spectacle.

Rollers (and other species) at a fire:

Here’s a roller from Wikipedia, which notes this:

This is a common bird of warm open country with some trees, and has adapted to farmland and human habitation. These rollers often perch prominently on trees, posts or overhead wires, like giant shrikes, whilst watching for the large insects and small rodents on which they feed. They will dash into the smoke of a forest fire for disturbed invertebrates. They are fearless, and will dive and roll at humans and other intruders.